The digital printing industry has need for properly positioning data and printing information on print media. To accommodate the need for time to process the new data for proper insertion on the paper, the need for cue delays has arisen. Also, there is a need to control various peripheral devices simultaneously with printing and a cue delay has been become an easy fix to enable smooth incorporation of these devices with the printer.
So far, the cue delay systems have been cumbersome, slow, and inaccurate.
A need exists for a fast, instantaneous system which provides smooth, efficient operation of the printer while incorporating new information.
The need for such cue delay circuits is compounded on printing systems that employ a plurality of print heads which print on the print media sequentially. It is important to have separate cue delay signals so that each of the print heads can output properly when registered with an adjacent printhead.
Traditionally, the cues are highly programmable and it has been impossible to have a standard cue delay as each print job is different. Accordingly, the present invention provides the flexibility needed to provide a cue delay for different size jobs, different combinations of print heads, and for different types of print media.
The present embodiments described herein were designed to meet these needs.